Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

could find a way to make the transmission untraceable, since it wouldn’t require a real-time comp connection. Another glance at Ingram was all that he needed to make sure she volunteered as the pilot for Bellefeuille’s trip.

For what it was worth, he did have the best operatives the MIS had to offer. He had drilled them mercilessly since day one, almost as mercilessly as he drilled himself, and he felt rather smug seeing the benefits. Wagner might have been a cocky and ruthless sonofabitch, but when it came to training and experience, Gonzalez and his team eclipsed him by light years.

But even that amount of confidence in his team couldn’t stop Gonzalez from briefly indulging in a fantasy where his strong, powerful fingers wrapped themselves around Wagner’s neck and squeezed hard till the other man’s eyes popped. He wouldn’t even have trouble disposing of the body with perfectly assured anonymity. But sooner or later someone would come looking for the asshole, and such a sudden disappearance was likely to tip off the very people Gonzalez was after, making them go even deeper into hiding.

No, for now it would have to remain just a fantasy. Wagner might be an utter waste of oxygen, but for the time being he would have to stay among the living.

‘In the meantime,’ Wagner continued, ‘Inspector Gonzalez will update me on the lack of progress made here in the last few weeks and what will no doubt be a number of excuses.’ His eyes finally zeroed in on Gonzalez with a mix of contempt and superiority, and Gonzalez counted silently to three before lowering his own gaze.

The stupidity of these staring contests always annoyed him. It was hardly a fair contest if one’s excessive spurt of bravery meant one’s death or worse. It was just a silly game that made people like Wagner feel more powerful. But it was important to make Wagner feel like he had the upper hand, comfortable that he had efficiently subdued the man he had just relieved. The more he underestimated Gonzalez, the better.

The petty and not so subtle remarks Wagner had made to undercut Gonzalez’s authority were a clear sign of just how badly out of favour Gonzalez was with the new ‘management’. Deep down the childish attitude the commissioner displayed made Gonzalez want to laugh. He had expected something like it, but he was surprised to see just how low Wagner stooped. He was crude to the point of obscene idiocy.

The social class encompassing the Elite wasn’t uniform. Even among the rich and spoilt were those that were even more rich and more spoilt. Some had the birthright to prove it, while others merely aspired to make themselves look more important with no real backing. Louis Wagner was definitely the former, someone who considered himself better than most and certainly had the resources to prove it. By publicly reprimanding Gonzalez and holding him accountable for the miserable progress in the investigation, he made it clear to everyone in the room that they would be better offering their loyalty to Wagner himself, forgetting about their previous boss.

‘You two.’ Wagner’s hand flicked at the two young gendarmes standing quietly in the corner, but his eyes remained on Gonzalez, a nasty smirk lurking deep within them. ‘Fetch my things from the aircar. I wish to get to work immediately. Go!’ he barked, and the two young men scurried towards the landing pad on the 4th’s roof.

A heavy silence reigned for a few seconds, and Gonzalez had no doubt that it was as carefully planned as it was natural to Wagner. After years of practice playing the petty game of terrorising his prey for his amusement, he had probably forgotten how to act in any other way.

There was indeed something almost mechanical about Wagner’s attitude, too rehearsed maybe. All throughout his discourse, Wagner spat his instructions in a monotone voice, almost bored, as if giving orders to a bunch of strangers while flaunting his superiority was something he did frequently with no effort. But not even an idiot could miss the underlying command in his voice. That man was used to being obeyed unconditionally. Show or no show.

Other than that, it was hard to read the man. Whatever game Wagner was playing with them, it wasn’t to be revealed yet. He was either in too much of a hurry to watch and enjoy their fear or was a fan of more drawn-out tactics, with which he established his dominance by leaving them guessing.

Entitled fucker, a small voice at the back of Gonzalez’s mind jibed.

Deep down he wished he could have a few moments to swap notes with Ingram on what she had picked up from Wagner’s attitude, but he knew the privacy for such conversations was about to become a thing of the past.

‘Gendarme O’Haress,’ said Wagner, almost as an afterthought. He glanced at Megan, breaking the silence as his predatory expression rose to a new level. ‘Please study the information I have had sent to your account. Since Inspector Gonzalez will no longer need an aide, I have decided to appropriate you.’

Everything Wagner had said until that point was to be expected, and had done nothing to shake Gonzalez’s well-drilled inner focus. The final bit of information almost scored. Megan.

Poaching someone’s aide was usually frowned upon. The Elite tended to keep their personal aides and take them whenever they travelled, and Wagner could have brought any of his many servants to fill the role and pamper to his spoilt needs.

So why put your hands on someone whose loyalty you can’t be sure of? If you really are in a hurry why would you want someone who doesn’t have your style of exquisite subservience beaten into them? Is it just your petty way of showing your superiority over me or do you suspect Megan knows something? Gonzalez wondered silently. And for that matter, do you suspect me of something too, or are you just being an Elite prick, basking in the power of